


Twenty years at your job Then the son of the boss gets the spot that was yours

by fazcinatingreads



Category: Cricket RPF
Genre: F/M, Gen, Office Romance, Secretary - Freeform, The Office, Workplace, sex-cretary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:54:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 6,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28215057
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fazcinatingreads/pseuds/fazcinatingreads
Summary: AU where Seb Gotch is the head of an accounting firm with Tania as his secretary.





	1. Chapter 1

"Hey," Seb Gotch said, strutting out of the elevator and throwing his coat on the secretary's desk. "What's on today?"

"You have an appointment in an hour with a new client," Tania answered, picking up his coat and smoothing any wrinkles, before placing it on the coatrack next to her desk. "Did you get the files?"

"No," Seb scowled, walking into his office.

Tania followed him in, her high heels clacking on the tiles. "I put them on your des---" she said.

"There they are," Seb said, cutting her off, placing a hand on the files and plonking himself down in his swivel chair. He raised his eyebrows at Tania. "New client?"

"Yes, they've come to us after 30 years at the last place," Tania said.

"Okay," Seb said, doodling on a piece of paper with a pink erasable pen. "What do they do?"

"They're doctors," Tania replied, reading off her tablet, "We've got all their company files from the previous office." She waved her hand at the mass of thick envelopes in the corner of his office.

Seb stared at the mess. "Was that office... not paperless?" he said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"That's correct."

Seb grunted and continued his doodling. "Book them into the conference room."

"Okay," Tania said, uncertainly, "We haven't used that room for conferences in ages. I'll have to move the tables back in position."

"That'd be great," Seb muttered, focused on his rough self-portrait.

Tania thought a bit more. "I'll move the couch over the cum stain on the floor," she mused, "The cleaner keeps telling me every week that she can't remove it."

"You're a great sex-cretary," Seb murmured into his drawing.

Tania smiled, proudly. "Thank you," she said.

Seb looked up at her. "Why are you still standing here? The conference room won't get itself ready! Chop chop, the clients will be here." 

That shocked Tania into action and she darted from the room, leaving behind the gorgeous scent of her Chanel perfume.


	2. Chapter 2

"there's something wrong with this petty cash report that the bookkeeper sent through," the secretary said, dropping a printed report on Seb Gotch's desk. 

Seb paused his drawing of the MCG and glanced at the report. "it's probably nothing again," he said.

"No, see here," Tania said, pointing a manicured fingernail at the balance. "The balance doesn't add up, too much was reimbursed."

Seb stared at the number. "it's fine, she just hasn't put in the correct opening balance."

Tania sighed. "okay but..." She tried, failing to find words. 

"You don't like her," Seb said nonchalantly, going back to his drawing. He drew himself scoring the match winning runs, his childhood dream before becoming an accountant. 

"She's just so... She has no idea about anything," Tania said finally. 

Just then, the bookkeeper in question came in and placed a coffee and glass of water in front of Seb. 

"Thanks kid," Seb said, jovially. 

"That's okay," she said timidly. 

"That's your second double shot espresso today," Tania noted, eyes wide. 

Seb shrugged. "Need my energy to get some work done." 

The bookkeeper scuttled out of the room. 

"Have you reviewed those tax returns in your inbox yet?" Tania asked. 

"I'll get to it," he said, tongue out, focused on his picture. 

"We have new clients who were unhappy with their previous accountants turnover rate," Tania gently reminded. 

"We'll never be as slow as those dinosaurs," Seb muttered. 

Tania sighed again and left the room. She knew working for her boyfriend would be frustrating. He never listened to her at home so why would work be any different?


	3. Chapter 3

"hey, check out this receipt from petty cash," Tania said, plonking her tablet with a thunk on seb Gotch's desk. 

Seb groaned at his drawing crumpled by the iPad. "what about it."

Tania tapped a manicured nail on the screen. "They've bought staff amenities but one of them is a block of chocolate." 

Seb reached out to touch Tania's hand. "Is that acrylic?" He said, stroking a thumb over the shiny nail. 

"Yeah," Tania breathed, heart racing from the intimacy. 

"Do you think I'd look good with acrylics?" Seb asked. 

"I've got some nail polish at home, I can paint yours tonight if you like?" Tania suggested, hopefully. 

"I'd love that," Seb said, and looked up to gaze into Tania's eyes. He started to stand up and moved closer to Tania until their foreheads were nearly touching. Seb went to put his lips on hers....

She shoved him back in his seat. "Seb come on, focus," she said, tapping the tablet awake, "we can't be funding their chocolate addictions."

"Why not," Seb said, naively. 

"Staff amenities is for coffee, tea, etc! Important necessary things!" Tania exclaimed. 

"Chocolate is important," Seb said. Then he reached for the phone. He clicked a few buttons and waited for it to ring. When it was picked up, Seb leaned over to the receiver. "could I please have a couple of tim tams?" 

"Sure," a voice said in reply. 

"And maybe a tea to go with it," Seb added. 

"What kind?" The answer came through the speaker. 

It was a good question. They had a multitude of tea varieties in the kitchen. "Um," he said, thinking it through. "I'll have an English breakfast."

"Sure." The line went dead. 

"You were saying?" Seb glanced back at Tania, and leaned back in his seat. 

"How's she meant to get work done with you pestering her for food every hour?" Tania muttered, annoyed. 

Seb shrugged. "She's a good girl."

"For getting you food?" Tania asked, raising her freshly waxed eyebrows. 

He shrugged again. Glanced back at the tablet. "you were saying?" 

"Maybe send out an email to all employees about staff amenities," Tania suggested quietly. 

"Got it," Seb said. He pushed the tablet in her direction and went back to his drawing. 

Tania took the tablet and left the room. She hesitated in the doorway to let the bookkeeper through who was carefully and painstakingly carrying a tea full to the brim and a plate of Tim tams. 

The bookkeeper placed the tea and plate on seb's desk and Tania darted from the room. 

"Thanks," Seb said, mouth watering at the Tim tams. Before she could go, Seb spoke again. "hey, could you do me a favour?"

"Sure," she said. 

"Send an email to all staff," Seb instructed gently. "put in it... Hmm... Remind everyone that petty cash is for necessary things only. Maybe don't be reimbursing chocolate purchases." 

"Oh okay," she said, flustered. "I... I mean... Um, it was shared with every..."

"It's okay, I don't mind," Seb said, smiling, "I get it. But there's some people..." His eyes flickered to the secretary's office next door. "Some people aren't so understanding."

The bookkeeper eyed where Seb was looking warily. "oh," she said. Then shook herself and spoke more confidently. "I'll go send that email."

"Thank you," Seb said, gratefully. That's one thing off his metaphorical plate. He plucked a Tim Tam off his actual plate and went back to his drawing happily, neatly pencilling in the lines of his biceps on his second self-portrait today.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely all made up and not based on anyone or anything.

"I got those papers you wanted," Tania said, coming into the office holding a stack of paperwork. 

Seb stopped typing on the keyboard and glanced up. "oh great," he said. 

Tania placed the papers in front of Seb and he went through it all greedily. 

After a minute or so, Tania couldn't stand the silence. "what's so important in there?" 

"I got a letter from a fan," he murmured, rifling through the papers with a pink thimblette on his finger. 

"You?" Tania asked incredulously. "how do you have fans?"

Seb shrugged. "I do people's tax returns," he said nonchalantly, "the people love me. Got a four year contract a couple of years ago."

Tania shook her head. "that was you sucking up to HR at a vulnerable time."

"Ah here it is," he said, ignoring Tania's comment. He pulled out a pretty awful drawing of him wearing short sleeves and oven mitts with a message on it. 

"Is that you in lockdown?" Tania observed. 

"Yeah," Seb beamed, proudly looking at the drawing. "could you hang it on my pin board?"

Tania took the drawing and pinned it on the board near the window. She chuckled at the picture of Seb with red hair holding a pan of banana bread. 

"It's realistic, isn't it?" Seb said. 

"Yeah," Tania said, admiringly. And slightly jealous. "you know who did it? Secret admirer?"

Seb laughed heartily. "you don't have anything to worry about, hun."

Tania eyed the hearts on the fan's letter warily but didn't say anything. She turned away and moved back to seb's desk. "anything else in those papers?"

"Nah they can be used as scrap," Seb said, shrugging, pushing them all to the side. He went back to his typing. 

"What are you working on?" Tania inquired politely. 

"Client's tax return," Seb murmured. "they wanted it yesterday." 

"They always do," Tania muttered back. "I'll leave you to it." She ducked out of the room. 

Seb reached over to the phone and punched in a couple of numbers. When it was answered, Seb said, "can you bring up a coffee please? Double shot. Thanks."

"Sure," came the answer and the line went dead. 

Seb turned over the next page of the draft return and his fingers raced over the keyboard entering the numbers. He really needed more staff who could type up returns on handitax. This was exhausting work. 

After a grinding session and almost about to email it through to the client, the bookkeeper came in carrying his coffee. 

Seb's eyes lit up. "Grazie," he said as she placed it on his coaster. 

She turned to leave and caught sight of the notice board. Her mouth formed an O as she stared at it. 

"You like it?" Seb asked, watching his bookkeeper transfixed. 

"Um," she said, stunned. 

"It seems I have a fan," he said, trying to sound modest. He didn't want to brag about it. 

"Yeah," she murmured and quickly turned away, blushing. 

She made to leave but Seb quickly spoke. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you something," he said. 

"Oh?” she said.

He leaned back in his seat. "how would you like to learn handitax?" He asked, smiling, "I'd like you to type up some returns."

"Oh." She looked nervous. 

"It's okay, I can train you," Seb said, kindly. 

She still looked nervous. "okay," she said quietly. "Th-- thanks."

"We'll start training straight after lunch tomorrow," Seb said decisively, dismissing the bookkeeper with a firm nod. She nodded back and left his office.


	5. Chapter 5

"what's your favourite colour?" Tania said softly, as she held Seb's hand steady. She dipped the brush back in the nail polish. 

"Green," Seb said, without missing a beat. 

Tania grabbed the green polish. She started painting seb's nails a bright shade of emerald green. 

"Thank you," Seb murmured, watching her work her magic making his nails pretty. "you doing anything this weekend?"

"You know I am," Tania muttered, focused on her artwork. "I've got the girls weekend away."

"Oh," Seb said, having forgotten all about it. "the bookkeeper invited us around for a barbeque."

"Us? Or just you?" Tania asked, pausing her handiwork to stare at him incredulously. 

"The whole staff," Seb said, shrugging. "Even the IT guy."

"You know she likes you," Tania stated nonchalantly. 

"Who? The IT guy?" Seb asked. 

Tania rolled her eyes. "no, the bookkeeper."

"Jealousy doesn't suit you," Seb said. 

"I'm not jealous," Tania argued. 

"Hmm," Seb said. 

When she was halfway through seb's nails, an accountant knocked on the door. "hey," she said, pausing in the doorway, taking in the scene. "any work getting done?"

"Sure," Seb said, blowing on his painted nails. 

Tania reached for her tablet. "I was just showing seb..." She said, and tapped a few times on the screen with her acrylics. 

"Right," the accountant said, "Seb, I emailed you a few returns to review. Just checking you got them."

Seb fiddled with his computer, opening his emails. 50 new emails. He inwardly groaned, but smiled through the pain. "got it," he said, grinning at the accountant. 

She nodded and left the room. 

"Where were we?" Seb said, waving the green nail polish at Tania. 

"Seb..." She said, unsure. She motioned to her office. "I've got heaps of work to do. Correspondence is up to here." Tania motioned with her hand about waist height. 

"You're just gonna leave?" Seb asked incredulously. "do i have to finish myself?" He waved his half-painted hand in the air. 

"Just..." Tania started to say and then shook her head. "just get some work done." With that, she left the room. 

Seb sighed, staring at his nails. Then after a shuddering glance at the emails, he pressed a few numbers on the phone. When it was picked up, Seb asked, "you busy?"

"Um, just in the middle of something," the bookkeeper said, nervously. 

"What client?" Seb inquired. 

"That big one that came to us a few weeks ago," she said, "you know, with like over 10 entities?"

"Take a break," Seb said gently, "I'll have a double espresso."

Seb read a few emails, his eyes glossing over at all the questions people wanted to know, the words swimming before his eyes. 

Then the bookkeeper came in, placing a cup of steaming coffee in front of him, its smell wafting up to him. His mouth watered. 

The bookkeeper made to leave, but Seb cleared his throat. "can you do me a favour?" He asked, pleadingly. 

"Sure, anything," she said. 

He pointed to his half finished nails then to the green nail polish sitting casually on his desk. "finish me off?" He asked, hopeful. 

The bookkeeper blushed. "oh, I..." She said, flustered. 

"It won't take long," Seb said gently. 

"Alright," the bookkeeper said, caving at Seb's big brown eyes. 

She sat in the spare chair next to Seb and opened the nail polish. She took seb's hand, and began painting on the nails, her tongue out in concentration. 

"We'd love to come to your barbeque on Saturday," Seb murmured, watching his nails become green. 

"Oh?" She said, "you and Tania?"

"Well, Tania's got a girls weekend or something," Seb said, shrugging. "it'll be just me."

"Oh," she said, head down, focused on the nails but Seb could see a bit of pink on her cheeks. 

"Who else is coming from work?" Seb said, casually. 

"No one has replied yet," she said, "I don't think they like me very much." She raised her eyes to look at her boss. "except you, of course."

He smiled back at her and she blushed, ducking her head. "don't be silly," he said dismissively. Kindly. 

She didn't respond and went back to painting his nails. 

When she finished his nails, Seb smiled at her and then at his nails, admiring them. "thank you."

She left the room and Seb was alone with his emails again. He drank his coffee, noting the pleasingly aesthetic look of his green nails against the green coffee cup. 

After reviewing a few returns and okay-ing them to go to clients, he answered a few of the clients emails. 

As he typed out financial advice and other interesting comments, he thought about what he'd wear to the barbeque. A suit? No, too fancy. And too similar to his work clothes. 

What about with his green tie? Or that shirt that Tania got him for Christmas? 

By the time he'd decided on wearing his green and blue plaid shirt with jeans, it was nearly 5pm. Seb cleaned up his desk, grabbed his briefcase and coat, and went to see if Tania would drive him home now.


	6. Chapter 6

After throwing his coat on Tania's desk, Seb continued on to his own office. 

"How are you so late? It's lunch time," Tania yelled after him, swallowing her mouthful of sushi.

"Taxi was late," Seb shouted back, and entered his office, slumping down in his chair.

The fancy calligraphy on the envelope caught his eye and he picked it up eagerly. Seb stared at his own name written in beautiful handwriting, calligraphic font spelling out Sebastian Gotch.

Excited to be receiving more fan mail, he ripped open the envelope. A letter fell out, just writing, no picture this time.

Still, better than nothing. The letter was written in the same heart-stoppingly beautiful calligraphic font as the front of the envelope.

He began to read.

Halfway through, his shoulders sunk. It was a resignation letter. Who would want to resign from this amazing team he had? After he treated them all so well? Seb cringed when he remembered the way he yelled at an accountant yesterday, and demanded high impossible expectations from his staff.

After skimming the rest of the letter, Seb read the last words out loud. "Thanks for all the fish," he whispered to no one, a tear falling down his face.

The bookkeeper had signed her name at the bottom. The bookkeeper! The one that Tania thought was incompetent. Well, at least she'll be happy.

Seb used the letter as a tissue and cried into it for half an hour, soaking the paper with his tears. He sadly watched the ink run down the page until it was unrecognisable and it made him feel worse, ruining the poor girl's artwork.

After he'd calmed down, wiped his face, and binned the wrecked letter, he pressed the bookkeeper's number on the phone and waited.

"Hello?" she said, sounding as if she was holding her breath.

"Come upstairs to see me," Seb said into the speaker. Then quickly added, "Bring a double shot espresso please."

The bookkeeper murmured her assent and the line went dead.

After Seb trawled through his boring emails for a few minutes, the bookkeeper entered the room and placed a steaming mug of coffee in front of him. He murmured his thanks and took a grateful sip of the energising liquid.

"You wanted to, uh, see me?" the bookkeeper asked nervously, after standing there fidgeting for a minute.

"Yes," Seb said, then more loudly, "Yes, of course, have a seat!"

The bookkeeper tentatively sat.

"So, I got your letter," Seb began, smiling brightly even though he was still hurting inside.

"Great," she said without feeling.

"Look, I just wanted to know," Seb said, "Why? Why would you leave this incredible and amazing team? I've given you every opportunity, first you started from the bottom, doing filing and washing people's dishes..."

"I still do filing and wash dishes," she cut in.

Seb blinked but continued smoothly. "I had you trained in bookkeeping, given you skills to add to your accounting degree," Seb said, "I thought you were happy slowly getting the hang of MYOB, handitax and Reckon, until you had the confidence to become an accountant and go for your CPA. Has another company offered you more? Is that it? Because if that's it, I can... well, I can... we can pay for your CPA. Please tell me what it is you want and we can make it happen."

The bookkeeper blinked. "Well, if you must know, I'm quitting accounting and becoming a calligrapher."

Seb was dumbfounded. "That's a job?!" he asked, eyes bugging out.

"I hope so," she replied, shrugging, "I've noticed how good my handwriting is lately when I've written the journal entries and I think I'd like that as a career."

"You... you don't have another job lined up?" Seb asked, confused.

"Not yet," she said, casually. "I've given my four weeks notice and will hopefully have found calligraphy work after that."

Seb was gobsmacked. He suddenly thought of her resignation letter, the neat beautiful handwriting, the way she had written his name on the envelope like it was inked in gold.

"I think you'll do an excellent job as a... a calligrapher," Seb said, quietly.

"Thank you," she said, just as quietly.

Then she left his office and he sank further into his chair, whimpering softly. The potential of his favourite employee's accounting skills. Lost to calligraphy. Oh, the travesty.


	7. Chapter 7

"Tania! I got more fan mail!" Seb yelled, bursting into his secretary's office waving a piece of paper. 

He proudly slapped the paper on the desk in front of Tania. 

She looked up warily, having to pause what she was writing. "what?"

"Fan mail," Seb panted, breathing heavily. He pointed at the letter. 

Tania picked up the letter and read it, pursing her lips. 

Seb waited patiently, bouncing on his toes. 

"Is this a picture of you taking a catch?" She asked, frowning.

"Yeah," Seb breathed, grinning. "Got under a high ball in the grade cricket match on the weekend."

"In your village wicket keeping gear?" She noted, a perfectly shaped eyebrow arched. 

Seb shrugged, nonchalantly. "It's third grade." 

Tania studied the picture a bit longer until her phone buzzed, which gained her immediate attention and she discarded the fan mail. 

"Who's that?" Seb asked, snapping up his fan mail and watching Tania smile at the text she just received. 

"Hmm?" Tania said, distracted, smile fixed on her face as she typed a reply. 

"Who are you texting?" Seb asked, "is it for work?"

Tania looked up. "Uh it's just personal," she muttered, putting the phone down reluctantly.

"It's not a guy, is it?" Seb asked, annoyed. 

"Seb, you flirt with the bookkeeper in front of me," Tania shot back. 

"So it is a guy," Seb said. 

"Seb, we're not together any more," Tania reminded him. "why does this matter?"

"What about yesterday in the broom closet." Seb crossed his arms, staring daggers at her. 

"That was a weak moment," Tania murmured, eyes casted down. "you were wearing that pink button down shirt."

"So you won't join me for lunch again today?" Seb asked, unhappily.

"We don't have to eat in a broom closet," Tania snapped. "the lunch room is fine."

"We can't get hands on in the lunch room," Seb pointed out. 

"I don't want to get hands on with you." Tania picked up her pen and continued writing. 

Seb was speechless, opening and closing his mouth but nothing came out. 

Tania glanced up. "go do some work?" She said, dismissively. 

"Is this over?" Seb asked quietly. A tear slipped down his face which he angrily wiped away. 

"Yes." Tania put her head down, working hard. Seb slunk out of the room, clutching his fan mail to his chest.

...

When Tania walked into the lunch room, first thing she saw was Seb and the bookkeeper, sandwiches half eaten in front of them, while they sat with their heads close together, whispering. 

Tania sighed, placing her lunchbox on a table on the other side of the room and sat down. 

She watched as Seb stroked the bookkeeper's hand under the table, his lips moving rapidly near her ear as she giggled. 

"You rejected him," Tania reminded herself. "remember, you're much older and more mature than him." 

A few deep breaths and bites of her tuna sandwich and she was calm, ready to move on into happier more stable relationships with guys her own age.


	8. Chapter 8

It was a rare sight for Seb to see the sun rising on his drive to work, but here he was, in the backseat of an Uber as they drove in heavy stop-start traffic, the sun just barely above the horizon.

"Hey, pull over," Seb shouted, pointing at his favourite coffee shop.

The uber driver reluctantly pulled over and watched as Seb jumped out and ran across four lanes of traffic to the cafe. 

A few minutes later, Seb was sliding back into the Uber, holding a takeaway coffee cup in each hand.

"For me?" the Uber driver asked, casually, as he pulled back into the traffic.

Seb blinked. One was for his girl but... oh well. He reached over to hand one to the driver. "Hope you like almond milk," he said.

The driver took the cup without taking his eyes off the road. "You know me too well," he replied.

When they arrived at work, Seb burst through the doors, grinning widely. "Good morning!" he exclaimed.

All his workers in the open plan office just stared at him, stopped in mid-conversation. 

"You're early," one of them noted, surprised.

"Thank god we're sitting down," another joked.

The bookkeeper said nothing, just open mouthed stared at him. Seb walked up to her and placed the takeaway paper cup on her desk. "For you," he said, smiling his secret smile just for her.

"I... don't drink coffee," she said, staring at the cup like it was poison.

"You'll like this one," Seb said, feeling mildly offended, and took a few slow steps back then darted up the stairs to the safety of his office.

The bookkeeper took tentative sips of coffee, and found she did like it, latte with enough sugar to mask the bitter coffee flavour. 

Her boss knew her better than she thought.

...

Seb found that coming in earlier meant that he was more productive and got more work done. Who'd have thought? Maybe he was a morning person after all.

At about 10am, he stood up and stretched. Then he walked down the hallway to see what Tania was up to.

He peered in Tania's room, ready to surprise her...

She wasn't there.

Oh. Maybe she was in the toilet.

Seb wandered down the stairs, humming to himself, only to come to a stop in the middle of the open plan office.

The entire area was vacant. Abandoned. Chairs empty, with their jackets draped on them... where was everyone?

There was only one sensible conclusion.

He had been left behind.

Seb stared at the empty chair where the bookkeeper sat, a tear in his eye. He never got to say goodbye. He walked up to her desk and, hand shaking, touched the coffee cup he'd given her. Her lipstick stained the white lid and he cradled the empty cup, collapsing into her chair, hunched over. Sobbing. 

Her beautiful handwriting was all over the pages on her desk and he stared at the stunningly vibrant words. How did she make words look so beautiful? He touched some of the letters, choking back sobs.

"What are you doing?" a voice asked, shocked.

Seb looked up.

It was the bookkeeper. She was standing over her desk clutching a plastic wrapped slice of banana bread and a sandwich.

"Oh, um..." Seb said, dropping the coffee cup on her desk and springing up. "Where did you go? Where is everyone?"

She blinked. "The food truck comes at 10am every day," she said, as if it was common knowledge.

"Food truck?" Seb asked, bewildered.

"Everyone's out there buying their lunch," she explained, walking around her desk to sit down on the chair. She thrust the banana bread at a stunned Seb who caught it stiffly in his hands.

"Thanks for the coffee by the way, it was yum," she said, and went back to her work.

One by one, the other workers filed in the room, Tania among them, carrying their sandwiches and drinks.

No one took any notice of Seb frozen next to the bookkeeper's desk and when he was finally able to move, he darted up the stairs to his office. He carefully unwrapped the banana bread and took small bites of it, savouring the taste and smelling the hint of cinnamon. 

The bookkeeper knew him better than he thought.


	9. Chapter 9

"Seb! She's been thieving money from us! I have proof!" Tania yelled, storming into her boss' office and handing him a stack of paper.

Seb blinked, flinching away from the paper. "What's this?" he asked, bored, eyes half-lidded as he watched his secretary pace up and down his office.

"She," Tania said, seething the one word while invisible fire erupted from her nose. "She..." Her eyes were daggers as they flitted from Seb, to the paper thrown on his desk, to the walls. 

Seb watched her chest heave up and down, mesmerised. "I don't know what you're talking about," he said tiredly.

"It's the petty cash," Tania fumed. 

"Again?" Seb asked, rolling his eyes. "Tan, come on, give the girl a break. So she misreads figures and forgets to put in the opening balance? She's leaving in a few weeks, if you remember?"

"No," Tania breathed, her gorgeous blue eyes like a stormy lake, "Oh no. This is bigger than all of that."

"Oh?" Seb said, feigning interest, his attention going to the Freecell game open on his computer.

"We go to the bank and get your lunch every day," Tania rambled, "We drive there for work, taking time out of our day to do this. We deserve to be reimbursed."

"And you do," Seb replied, dryly, "It's listed as travel on the petty cash report every week. Costs me quite a bit, I might add."

"Well," Tania said, and barked a humourless laugh. "Well, Seb dearest, it should be costing you a lot more."

"Mm," Seb murmured distractedly, finally uncovering a buried 2 of hearts and watched all the cards fly upwards.

"She's been using 0.68 when really," Tania said, pausing to take a breath, "An accountant informs me today that it moved to 0.72 for the 2020/21 year."

"Seriously," Seb muttered, glancing at Tania, her face an angry red. "That's your problem? It's like a difference of like 10 cents."

"But it's the principle!" Tania screamed, annoyed. "She's probably done it on purpose! We can fire her for this, you know. I can go down there right now and I can tell her--"

Seb sat upright and alert, glaring at his secretary. "You will do no such thing," Seb demanded, "She's my employee, not yours, and you'll do well to remember that."

Tania blinked, lost for words. "I..." she started, "She deserves to be fire--."

"Tania Buckley," Seb scolded, "I'm already losing her in three short weeks. Don't make this harder than it already is." He started a new game of Freecall, focused, trying to calm his inner turmoil. Trying not to cry.

"You love her," Tania stated bitterly. "You're in love with her."

Seb didn't respond, just held his breath and hoped the awaiting tears wouldn't fall.

"You can't let her continue this thievery," Tania snapped.

"I'll talk to her, okay? Can you go now?" Seb whispered, hating his voice breaking on the last word.

Tania huffed and marched out of his office. As soon as the door slammed shut, Seb sank from the chair to the floor and sobbed. Tears flowed down his cheeks while he lay in the foetal position on the floor of his office.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is what happens when you read ACOSF. Inspired by Nesta and Cassian.

"Seb, Seb, we can't," Tania panted, pulling away from their kiss, her face going red. 

She was sitting in Seb's lap in his office chair, arms around his neck and her legs straddling his body. How did she get here? She remembered coming into work and seeing her boss, hair ruffled and buttons undone enough to show some chest hair.

He was too much to resist.

"Everyone's working from home today," Seb murmured, leaning in to Tania's ear and giving it a nibble. "No one's here to see us."

"But..." Tania started to say, before letting out a moan, her back arching in pleasure.

Seb licked her ear, then trailed kisses down her neck, slowly and sensually. 

She moaned again, pressing one hand on his chest and the other tangled in his silky brown hair.

The phone rang, its shrill ring making them both jump. 

"I should get that," Tania murmured, more focused on undoing more buttons of Seb's shirt, her hand tracing his nipples.

"They'll ring back," Seb replied between kisses.

Tania put her mouth on one of Seb's nipples and listened to him groan in pleasure as she clamped down with her teeth. She felt him harden beneath her and one of her hands instinctively went to that area, feeling him through his pants.

"Oh ohhhh," Seb yelled, his arms pulling her closer.

Her mouth found his again and kissed him open mouthed, their tongues clashing and wrestling.

"You know," Tania said, mouth pulling free but she could still feel his hardness beneath her, "I have a boyfriend. He moved in with me and the kids last night."

Seb wrapped his arms tighter around her thin waist. "But you're here with me."

"I shouldn't be," she said, looking into his molten brown eyes. "Are you..." She glanced down, embarrassed. "How's it going with the bookkeeper?"

He shrugged, acting carefree and aloof. "Her farewell party is next week," he said, "After that, it's over."

"Won't it be easier to continue a relationship when you're not her boss?" Tania asked, earnestly, her eyes finding Seb's.

"I work here 16 hours a day, there's not much time after that for love," he said. "You know that." He nuzzled her neck, tasting her. Biting her skin.

"16 hours?" Tania asked, incredulously, "Doing what?"

He pulled away to stare at her. Opened his mouth to retort but thought better of it, instead putting his mouth on hers.

After a minute or two, Tania pushed away. "Seb, we can't," she muttered, extracting herself from his grip through sheer will and clumsily standing up. She accidentally put her hand in his lap as she got to her feet. 

He put his calloused hand over hers. She felt the hard length of him, her body screaming for it, wanting it inside of her. Needing him inside her.

"Please let me go," she whispered, hating the wetness in her pants.

"If you tell me one thing," Seb muttered, eyes on her crotch area. 

"What is it," Tania said through gritted teeth.

"Do you get wet for him or just me?" he asked, a sly smile on his face.

Tania yanked her hand out and darted from the room, stomping angrily all the way to her office.


	11. Chapter 11

"Hey, why haven't you sought me out?" Seb asked, standing awkwardly in front of the bookkeeper's desk.

She glanced up distractedly. "I..." she said, taking in the empty office around her until her eyes snagged on Seb's.

"I'm taking my cues from you," Seb went on, in a low voice. "You're the one leaving me..."

The bookkeeper slowly blinked. "Oh," she breathed. 

Seb moved around the desk and came right up to her. "It's after 5 so technically this counts as overtime," he whispered, and knelt down to her level.

She gulped, hesitating for a second, and then grabbed his already askew tie, pulling him closer. "Take me now, Seb," she muttered.

"With pleasure," Seb replied, before their mouths met, slapping together wetly.

Seb gently picked her up and kicked the chair out of the way. He placed her carefully on the ground and bent over her, kissing her passionately, his tongue making sweeping movements.

Her hands immediately started unbuttoning his shirt and he did the same with her blouse, and they shrugged off their tops, tossing them with loose abandon to the side.

She kissed all around his pecs and stroked his stomach muscles while he moaned in her ear and felt himself go hard.

He unclasped her bra, chucking it to the side, and admired her petite breasts. Not as big as Tania's but Seb cast that thought to the side and sucked at one of her peaked nipples, enjoying the taste of her.

"Help me," she whispered urgently, as she tugged at his pants.

He glanced down, inwardly groaning at having to pull away from her nipples, and saw that she hadn't undone his belt. Tania was right about her incompetence.

As Seb guided her hands to unclasp his belt, he caught a glint of silver on her wrist.

"Who gave you that?" he breathed, his hand latching onto her wrist. He stared at the watch sitting daintily there.

"Some friends bought it for me," she answered, her eyes flicking to the watch.

"Why." Why would her friends buy her an expensive watch? To celebrate her resignation from his company? Seb blinked back tears that came to his eyes unbidden.

"It was my birthday." She had his pants down and slipped her pencil skirt down to her ankles.

"Oh," Seb said, shocked, "Okay." Distractedly, he took off his underwear and she greedily eyed his length. "I didn't know."

"It was a couple of days ago," she said nonchalantly, placing her hands on him, rubbing them up and down gently.

"Harder," he muttered.

She rubbed him harder.

He moaned in delight, savouring the feel of her cold hands on him.

She bent down to lick him, tongue moving around and teeth grazing, and he felt himself building, building, almost at a climax...

Pushing her away, Seb grabbed her underwear roughly, ripping it down the middle. He shoved his whole length inside her, while his mouth found her breasts again, kissing them all over.

She groaned, hips gyrating, as she pulled the strands of his hair.

When he came, he relaxed and rolled off her, laying beside her for a few moments. Eventually his hand found hers, and clasped it like a sailor holding onto a life raft in a raging ocean.

"You're getting paid double time and a half for this," he whispered, his heartbeat calming to a normal speed.

"I feel like I already did," she whispered back.


End file.
